House signals approval for campus construction bonds

The Texas House gave tentative approval to billions of dollars in bonds for campus construction projects on Monday. Senators already gave the go-ahead, but they will have a chance to revisit the proposal, because the House increased the total from about $2.4 billion to nearly $2.7 billion.

“These tuition revenue bonds are absolutely critical to our universities,” said state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, adding, “The concern that we may be having to pay for part of it is fine, but the reality of it is, it’s a small investment.”

The Legislature is typically expected to pass a package of what are known as “tuition revenue bonds” — they don’t actually have anything to do with tuition — every other regular session, but no such authorizations have been made since 2006. Meanwhile the wish list of new facilities for higher education around the state has grown.